It's all business when dad's
aroundSharks roll Stars 5-2 with fathers in
attendance

2/2/12 - By Mike Lee -

A year ago, Sharks General Manager Doug Wilson gave
his team a tongue lashing on the team bus after his players laid an egg on the
first leg of their annual "Fathers Trip". San Jose treats each player and that
player's father with a road trip as a team bonding exercise once during the
regular season, and last year didn't start off so well. As the Sharks prepare
to embark on this year's trip, the Sharks treated their dads to a goal-fest and
a 5-2 win over the Dallas Stars at HP Pavilion on Thursday night.

The
Sharks built on their 6-0 shellacking of Columbus two nights earlier by putting
five pucks past Dallas goaltender Richard Bachman. Five different Sharks
scored, including Logan Couture, who netted his team leading 22nd goal of the
season.

San Jose extended a streak of scoring two goals in a period to
five with dual tallies in both the 1st and 2nd periods. They could only pot a
single goal in the 3rd period, snapping the impressive streak.

Michal
Handzus opened the scoring by tipping a Brent Burns blast past Bachman 4:42
into the game. Burns took a feed from Jamie McGinn along the right wing boards,
before pivoting toward the high slot and unleashing a shot from the blueline.
The shot hit Handzus in the stick, altering its trajectory and fooling Bachman.

Joe Pavelski scored the first of two Shark power play goals at 16:32
after Alex Goligoski was sent off for high sticking.

"I think our
power play is starting to look more like it should," said Sharks head coach
Todd McLellan. "There is some emotion. They are starting to shoot it a little
bit more. You sense a more confident group when they go on the ice."

The Sharks impressive shutout streak came to an end 12:41 into the 2nd period
after Ryane Clowe was sent off for tripping. It had been 190 minutes and 51
seconds since an opponent had put a puck in the Sharks net, which is a new
franchise record. By that definition the streak should be longer because the
Sharks put the puck into their own net. Steve Ott was credited with the goal,
but it was Dan Boyle who swept the puck past teammate Thomas Greiss. Boyle was
jostling with Ott as the two charged up the slot, and his clearing attempt
caught Greiss by surprise.

"I think good defense leads to good
offense," said Sharks captain Joe Thornton. "We've been doing that for the last
few games and it's been working out for us."

Vern Fidler put the
Sharks on the power play less than a minute later, allowing the Sharks to push
their lead back to two goals. Logan Couture deflected a Burns shot past
Bachman. Couture got his stick blade in front of Trevor Daly's skate as the two
fought for position in front of the Stars net.

Niklas Grossman handed
San Jose their fourth goal of the evening after coughing up the puck in his own
zone on a breakout attempt. Pavelski intercepted the turnover and faked a shot
before sliding the puck to Thornton for the easy deposit.

The Sharks
handed the Stars another goal 6:22 into the 3rd period when Greiss failed to
get a glove on a puck that sat perched in front of him. The Sharks netminder
tried to get his paddle perched behind it, but Jamie Benn punched it past the
meek effort setup a barrier.

Making his first appearance in 6 games since suffering
a facial injury, Ryane Clowe bagged his 10th goal of the season with 9 minutes
to play on a put back from the slot. Lowe fired a puck off Bachman, then fired
home the rebound as Couture crashed the net and created a bit of a distraction.

"It's three [games] they've taken from us, twice here," said Ott.
"They're a great hockey club over there; they're well-built. But, it gives us
no excuse to not be a competitive team against them. They've got a lot of
skill; we've got a lot of work ethic. For us, we need to find a way to match
up. Hopefully, the next three, we'll turn the tide and we'll continue to focus
on competing again from there."

Game Notes:

Greiss got
the start because Antti Niemi was injured in practice on Wednesday. Tyson
Sexsmith was recalled from Worcester and dressed for his first NHL game as
Greiss' backup. Defenseman Justin Demers was also placed on injured reserve on
Thursday. San Jose won 77% of all faceoffs.

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